IDF Comes Under Fire Along Syrian Border

IDF routine patrol is targeted by gunfire from Syria, where rebels have taken control.

Ari Yashar, 30/10/14 16:11

IDF soldier guards northern borders (file)

Ayal Margolin/Flash 90

IDF forces conducting a routine patrol along the Syrian border on the Golan Heights came under fire from Syria on Thursday afternoon.

The force reported that it had been targeted by gunfire, and proceeded to conduct a search for the sources of the attack.

No wounds or damage was reported as having been caused by the attack.

Syrian rebels, including Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front forces, reportedly took control of the Syrian Golan Heights in early September through fierce fighting with Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces, and in the process seized the weapons and equipment of UN forces in the area.

The region has remained tense, with the fighting often spilling over - accidentally or intentionally - in the form of shellsfrequently streaking into Israeli territory.

Likewise Israel last month was forced to shoot down a rogue Syrian Army fighter jet near the Golan Heights with a patriot missile, and the month before shot down a Syrian drone that strayed into Israeli airspace.

The gunfire from Syria comes after a different border was recently hit by an attack; just last Wednesday drug smugglers on the Sinai border opened fire with anti-tank missiles on IDF patrols in the Negev, wounding two female soldiers.

Sinai has been increasingly lawless, with Egyptian soldiers also targeted in two lethal attacks last Friday that left at least 31 Egyptian troops dead in El-Arish. In response, Egypt has launched a plan to expel Gazans from the border area, after Hamas reportedly supplied the weapons for the attacks.